


Prisoner

by typhonlogs



Category: Motorcity (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, One Shot, Other, Post canon, its just them yelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26719132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/typhonlogs/pseuds/typhonlogs
Summary: After the fall of Detroit Deluxe, the Burners spared Kane for Julie's sake, instead locking him up in Deluxe's own maximum security prison. Julie's visits are tense but welcomed, until she brings along an unwanted guest.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Prisoner

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting a fic! Hope you enjoy :)

The hallway was quiet except for the echoing sound of steps across the tile, making determined strides down the way. The silence was too thick for Mike's taste, and despite his usual social expertise, he found himself without anything appropriate to say. Opting for silence, he and his partner walked down the corridor. Trailing behind her as she led the way, he couldn't read her expression, but he could feel how tense she was. She had visited her father before, but they both knew this would be different. Mike was here. They stopped in front of the large, metal door, and after a pause, Julie's voice rang out softly through the large room.  
“Are you ready?”  
“Yeah,” Mike said in a low voice. “Ready as I'll ever be.”

Julie gave a nod to a guard, who began undoing several locks and latches. Each clank and clamor of the door seemed to be louder and louder as the tension grew.  
It felt like minutes before the door finally swung open, and when it did, Mike had to squint to see anything inside. The cell was dimly lit and sparsely filled. A figure sat on the edge of a bed, leaned forward, hands folded together. They seemed distant, thoughts off somewhere else entirely, until their attention snapped back to reality as Julie stepped confidently into the cell.  
“Julie,” the man called softly, his voice bittersweet. Filled with a sour blend of love and resentment, as if he hadn't yet decided which to settle on.

“Dad,” she returned sternly. Mike watched them through the doorway, seeing Julie approach the man. She walked up to what appeared to be a glass barrier, resting her hand against the wall gently. Her father didn't stand up, though. He only stared up at her in response, a silence filling the air. Mike wondered what he was thinking; he couldn't see the mans expression from where he was, but his dimly lit silhouette seemed to speak everything and nothing all at once. “It's good to see you,” she said kindly. “How are you?”  
“How am I?” he repeated back to her, disdain seeping through his voice. “You should know better than to ask me that.” Her demeanor shifted at this, suddenly firm but closed off.  
“I'm sorry I haven't visited you in a while. I've had a lot of work to do.”  
“I'm sure you have.” Julie shifted her weight, brushing her hair behind her ear.  
“Things in Detroit are starting to get better. We've repaired a lot of the old pods, and-”  
“You know I don't want to hear about that.” Julie looked at the floor. “I get it, it's your city now. You and your Burners took it from me. The last thing I want to do is hear about how you've taken it all apart.” Julie clenched her fists, taking in deep breaths.  
“I'm trying to be nice to you,” she said through gritted teeth. “To talk to you.”

Mike slipped in through the doorway, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the lighting. He leaned back against the door frame, hands in his pockets, and said nothing. Julie sighed.  
“Dad, listen. I-”  
“What is he doing here?!” her father growled, his posture snapping straight and alert as he made eye contact with the young man. Mike raised a hand, as casually as he could muster, to offer a wave to the man.  
“Kane,” he addressed the prisoner simply, returning his hand back into his jacket pocket.  
“You think you can just show up here?!” he barked, standing up from the bed. Julie looked between the two of them, gauging their reactions cautiously.   
“Just hoping to catch up.”  
“Don't be a smart ass, Chilton.” Kane's eyes narrowed, the rage in his expression clear as day despite the shadows around his face.

Mike took this moment to really soak in the sight before him. Once well groomed and dignified, the man in front of him was now disheveled and tired. His hair no longer tied back nor his beard trimmed, he looked like a different person than the man he used to know. Though his eyes were angry, his demeanor was different than the smug air he used to carry. He felt different. Defeated. Something twisted in Mike's gut as he recalled the different sides of Kane he had seen before. A man once so charismatic and charming, who harbored such a twisted and corrupt view on the world behind his big promises and press-conference smiles. A man he had once admired turned into someone he despised so suddenly. But seeing the man now, something entirely new flashed through Mike's head; for a split second he allowed himself to feel sorry for him.  
He shook the thought off quickly, reminding himself of why he was here tobegin with. Kane had gotten himself here. He deserved this.

“You're not looking so good there, Abe,” Mike tried to smile at him, though not with much sincerity.  
“Why did you come here? Finally come to gloat? To take the so-called victory of your disgusting rat hole of a city and rub it in my face?”  
The rage in his eyes was obvious; a harsh gaze that made it clear Mike was anything but welcome here. Unfortunately for him, Mike decided, he had no say in the matter.  
“You know, I almost thought with some time to think, you might have had a change of heart.” He pushed his back against the wall and sprung himself forward, walking up to the glass to look his old enemy in the eyes. “Wishful thinking?”

“Change of heart, huh?” Kane snorted. “Unlike you, I stand by my convictions. I didn't run away when the tough choices had to be made.”  
“Tough choices? Those were innocent lives. People who trusted you.”  
“And why do you think that is, Chilton? You think they trusted me without reason?”  
“You lied to them,” Mike growled.  
“I protected them. They didn't know what was best for that city—But I did. And I did everything for them.”  
“They weren't citizens, they were your hostages. You controlled them; they didn't have any other choice.”  
“The choice to do what, exactly? To starve in the gutter? Your precious little slum of a sanctuary was in ruins! Criminals and riffraff roaming around without any consequences. Is that the freedom you fought so hard for?” Abraham took a step closer to the glass.  
“You can't condemn a whole city of people for the actions of a few,” Julie stepped in, staring her father dead in the eye. “Deluxe was supposed to represent the future. A better tomorrow. But you took advantage of their trust in you and used it as a weapon. You turned the city into a prison and told them they had nothing left.” She clenched her fist. Her father paused for a moment.

“I wish you understood, Julie.” Kane sighed. “You're too soft,” he said, voice easing up.  
“And you're too cruel,” she replied, no longer looking him in the eye. Kane's expression hardened once more at her response. Mike could only set a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  
“And you,” Kane snarled, returning his attention to the young man. “You stay away from her.” Mike narrowed his eyes at him, hand returning to his side. “It wasn't enough to keep the slum rats in rebellion, so you had to corrupt my daughter, too?”  
“She can think for herself. She saw you for who you really are.” The two men stared, face to face, only the glass between them to separate their anger.

“And who are you, Chilton?” Kane sneered. “The fearless leader of Motorcity? You can spout nonsense about freedom all you want, but at the end of the day, we both know what it was like down there. People were cold, hungry, they fought; it was dangerous. And you made sure to keep them there.”  
“Don't try and turn this around, Kane, you don't know what it was like down there at all.” Mike pointed a finger at him through the glass, eyes narrowed.  
“Don't I? You know what Detroit used to be—you yourself believed in Deluxe. You knew as much as I did that something had to be done; you saw the city suffer. You had a chance to make a difference, but you never had the guts to see it through. We could've helped those people, Chilton. We could have won.”  
“Yeah? Who's winning now, Abe?”

“You're never going to get it, are you?” Julie interrupted them, looking down at the floor. She sighed heavily. “You can't see what you've done. All the damaged you caused, and for what? To win? Is that really all it is?” She stepped up to the barrier once more, now staring him in the eyes again.  
“It isn't about seeing you for who you really are,” she shot a sidelong glance at Mike, “it's about not knowing who you are at all. Everyone sees you as some kind of monster, but I wanted to believe there was more to it than that; I tried so hard to find the good in you. I wanted to know that deep down somewhere, you were still... you were still my dad.” Kane broke eye contact at this, casting his gaze aside to the wall.  
“But after everything you've said and done... What am I supposed to think?” Her father opened his mouth to speak, but before he could voice a reply, she continued.  
“You've changed, dad. And I don't recognize you anymore. You say you fought for the people but all you've done is hurt them.”  
The room went silent for a moment as Julie paused to take a deep breath, looking between the two men before settling back on her father.

“Now you can't anymore.”

Her voice was low, a solemn tone that sent a chill down Mike's spine. He stepped closer to her, putting his hands on her shoulders again and noticing her eyes welling up in a mix of what he could only imagine was sorrow and anger. He brushed his hand on her cheek to catch a stray tear, trying to reassure her. Kane was silent for a moment, only clenching his fists, before he interrupted their moment with a low growl.

“Ungrateful...” Kane mumbled to himself, the couple turning their attention back to him now. “You're all ungrateful!” He slammed a fist against the glass, causing the two to jump back. “After everything I did—everything I sacrificed! Do you think it was easy?! Do you think I enjoyed it all?” He took a deep breath.  
“I did everything in my power to make a city where people could live peacefully. Without crime, without disease, without suffering! But there was always something in the way of that. You think I don't understand the things I've done? Of course I do. I had a vision for something better, but these things don't happen overnight. It takes work. Time. Someone had to do it.”   
“So what? The ends justify the means?” Mike said with a scoff. “You can't really tell me after everything you've done you can still see yourself as the good guy here.”  
“Everything I did, everything I worked for, you'll never understand it!” Kane shouted. His composure dropped again as his rage began to boil over. “I can't believe I ever thought you could.” Mike stepped forward to stare the man down.  
“Everything you worked for? It's gone. And Motorcity—Detroit—is better for it. It's over, Abraham. You lost.”  
“I should've taken care of you when I had the chance,” Kane hissed.  
“Oh, the feeling's mutual.” Mike took a final step closer, now nearly nose-to-nose with the man. “Trust me, if it weren't for Julie, I swear I'd-”  
“You'd what?” Kane growled, a twisted grin appearing on his face.  
“Mike,” Julie spoke up, reaching out between the two of them.  
“No, no, I wanna hear this.” Kane smirked.   
“Mike,” Julie called once more, this time more sternly, but something else in her voice spoke to him through his anger. Mike reluctantly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to stop himself. Every part of him wanted to scream back, to let loose on Kane for everything he had been through. For every wrong-doing, every betrayal—he felt like he deserved it. He let out a low hum under his breath, both hands resting on the clear wall in front of him.  
“Mike, we should go,” Julie called softly. He shot a glance at her before looking back at Kane, who was eyeing him with a smirk, waiting for him to continue.  
“Come on, Chilton!” Kane was egging him on. Mike started, but caught himself midway. Instead he let out a loud growl, shoving both hands against the glass with a thud. He turned away, burying his hands into his pockets, and made his way for the door.   
“That's right, just walk away again!” Abraham called after him. Mike stopped at the doorway, looking over his shoulder at Julie, waiting for her to follow. She looked over at her father, whose eyes were on Mike, a cruelly satisfied expression on his face. His smile faded as he glanced back at her, giving her a stern look. Julie's gut twisted looking between the two of them, but all she could do was follow behind Mike toward the exit.  
“Goodbye, dad.”


End file.
